Live At The Olympia (2CD)

R.e.m. - Live At The Olympia (2CD)

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Music CD Cover

Artist: R.e.m.
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Live
Published: 2009-10-23
CD Release Date: 2009-10-27
Music Label: Warner Bros.
Product features:

R. E. M. LIVE AT THE OLYMPIA (2CD)

Soundtracks:

Music CD 1

Living Well Is The Best Revenge
Second Guessing
Letter Never Sent
Staring Down The Barrel Of The
Disturbance At The Heron House
Mr. Richards
Houston
New Test Leper
Cuyahoga
Electrolite
Man-Sized Wreath
So. Central Rain
On The Fly
Maps And Legends
Sitting Still
Driver 8
Horse To Water
I'm Gonna DJ
Circus Envy
These Days

Music CD 2

Drive
Feeling Gravity's Pull
Until The Day Is Done
Accelerate
Auctioneer
Little America
1,000,000
Disguised
The Worst Joke Ever
Welcome To The Occupation
Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcar)
Harborcoat
Wolves, Lower
I've Been High
Kohoutek
West Of The Fields
Pretty Persuasion
Romance
Gardening At Night

Free Music Notes for Live At The Olympia (2CD)

Free Music Review: The set list I would have written for R.E.M.
Hit: 5 Stars

I discovered REM as a young high schooler in Georgia. There was this great band over in Athens, a buddy of mine told me, played at the 40 Watt Club all the time. He gave me a bootleg cassette of Life's Rich Pageant and Fables of the Reconstruction. I wore out the tape over that summer and fall, and then added Document to the rotation when it came out. I quickly bought all the previous albums. My favorite was the quirky Dead Letter Office of odd tracks that had never made it onto any album.

I was in my early 20s when R.E.M. lost me. It wasn't when they got internationally huge or when they moved to Warner -- I thought Green, Out of Time and Automatic for the People were excellent albums; I was right there with them. But I remember only kind of liking Monster (and feeling irritated when I paid huge money to see the band live in Charlotte only to have Stipe show up grumpy and unpleasant) and then feeling totally lost listening to New Adventures in Hi Fi. I didn't buy the next several.

Until Accelerate. This was a return to the R.E.M. sound I knew: the bass track driving the songs and Mike Mills' backing vocals turned up to set off that one-of-a-kind Stipe vocal sound, the guitar snarling as well as jangling. Joyful or urgent, not mopey.

The release of this live set makes it pretty explicit that R.E.M. intentionally returned to its essence for Accelerate. They heavily revisit the great deep tracks of the IRS albums alongside much of the Accelerate material. The energy they bring to these songs is incredible, and Stipe's clearly in a better mood now. The handful of mistakes that make it onto the album give it a humanity, and the band handles them with humor. The between-song banter at the mic by Stipe is so much fun. A couple of these speeches make it apparent that Stipe had to Google the lyrics to many of his own early songs. It's a shame they've been out of the rotation that long.

Anyway, R.E.M., welcome back to the 40 Watt. This album makes me feel like I've stumbled into one of your gigs under a pseudonym in a small club. Well done.

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Live At The Olympia (2CD) Poster

Live At The Olympia the two-CD/1 DVD/4-LP set includes 4 LPS, 3 gatefold sleeves, 2 CDS, 1 DVD, a 16 page booklet, liner notes by Peter Buck, 6 postcards and a 24x36 poster. Produced by Jacknife Lee, the album features 39 songs that capture the best moments from the band's 'working rehearsals' at Dublin's fabled Olympia club during which singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills tested out new songs for R.E.M.'s 2008 studio album Accelerate.